(201) Magazine Blogs

Thursday, March 21, 2013

Get used to the Panthers, the Rangers will face them three times in the next 17 games.

Coach John Tortorella was reluctant (read, he didn’t) to reveal his six defensemen before the game but, based on the pre-game warmups, it will be the same six from the last two games. Tortorella wouldn’t answer when I asked whether he was considering putting Stu Bickel in, a natural question with Micheal Haley now the Connecticut (AHL).

The Rangers have to be careful they’re not overlooking the struggling and injured Panthers, who are 8-16-6. The Panthers snapped a six-game losing streak with Tuesday’s 3-1 win over the Hurricanes and rookie C Jonathan Huberdeau (12 goals, seven assists) is a Calder Trophy candidate. However, key veterans C Stephen Weiss (wrist) and RW Kris Versteeg (knee) are both out for the season. Nine of the Panthers in tonight’s lineup have played for their AHL affiliate this season. The Panthers are being outscored 41-22 in the first period.

Tortorella did speak at length about rookie Chris Kreider, back in the Rangers lineup after an eight-game stint with the Whale in which he scored six goals with one assist and apparently improved defensively as well.

On whether he’d like to see Kreider have more of that innocence quality that J.T. Miller has: “I think Chris does. When he was with us last, and I don’t want us to keep – because I think you guys have kind of put words in my mouth along the way about these two. I don’t want to keep hearing that. I think it’s unfair to Chris. I think it’s unfair to J.T. But talking about Chris, when he was here last, you could see him be more involved with his teammates. You could see him start to come out of his shell. I just met with him after our meeting, and you could see him have more confidence. Everybody goes at a different pace there, and I think it’s respectful. I can tell with Chris. He’s very respectful of the hierarchy and what goes on in the locker room and earning his way, but I can see him beginning to go that way, and I think if something good happens for him in a game, I think he’ll be able to build off that, and that’s what we’re hoping.”

On what Kreider had to work on in Hartford: “There’s been quite a bit of work done with him down there, and listen: He hasn’t got it figured out. We don’t expect him to have it all figured out. But they think he’s progressing, and that’s what we got some reports there. One of the things that, and there was one thing I gave him when he was up with us last, I just need him to move his legs more and get to pucks. He did that. The next step is sustaining and having the puck and making an offensive play. He won’t have to worry about defense that much if he can use his assets, put his big body around it, bring some pucks to the net, who knows what happens? Use his shot. So I think he progressed in the couple of things I asked him to do. The next part was sustaining it. That’s why he goes down. He starts sustaining down there, started creating a little bit more offense, and I’m real anxious to see him play here. This is the right type of process that he needs to go through, and I hope he takes a step in the right direction and keeps on growing from there.

“To keep his foundation, the onus falls on us and teaching the play away from the puck and knowing how much you can give him and how much he can take at that particular time. Maybe in another week you can give him a little bit more … It’s gratifying when I can keep putting him on the ice and he produces for us because he’s going to help our team win. So that’s part of the process with young players is making them understand, do some of these things away from the puck and you feel more comfortable getting them on the ice, and it allows them to play. and eventually that’s gonna help the team. The kid has major assets, has a lot of great things going for him, it’s just a matter of trying to get him to put it altogether and do it consistently along the way here.”

About

ANDREW GROSS covers the New York Rangers for The Record and Herald News, having joined the North Jersey Media Group in November 2007. Gross also covered the Rangers and New York Jets, as well as St. John’s basketball and Army football, for Gannett Newspapers and The Journal News (N.Y.). He graduated from Syracuse University in 1989 with a degree in newspaper journalism.